Passenger and freight transfer system



W. P. LAMAR.

PASSENGER AND FREIGHT TRANSFER SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 12, T9l6- RENEWED JAN. 141 1919.

1,3 13,091. Patented Aug. 12, 1919.

3 SHEETS-$HEET l.

v mwf w. P. LAMAR PASSENGER AND FREIGHT TRANSFER SYSTEM. APPLICATIONFILED DEC. l2. I916- RENEWED IAN. 14. I919.

Patented 111 12, 1919.

a SHKEETSSHEET 2.

gvvuenl'o'b attorney W. P-. LAMAR.

PASSENGER AND FREtGHT TRANSFER SYSTEM. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 12. 1916.RENEWED JAN. 14. I9I9.

1,313,091 Patented Aug. 12; 1919.

- 3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

WILLIAM'P. LAMAR, OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA.

PASSENGER FREIGHT TRANSFER SYSTEM. v i 1 Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented Aug. 12, 1919.

Application filed December 12, 1916, Serial No. 136,496. Renewed January14, 1919. Serial No. 271,161.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM P. LAMAR, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Atlanta, county of Fulton, State of Georgia, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Passenger andFreightTransfer Systems, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to an apparatus whereby passengers, freight andbaggage may be transferred to and from a moving train. At present thestops made by a through train on the. main line require a considerableamount of time and if the delay at each station can be partly or completely eliminated it would be possible for trains to make much bettertime, and less rolling stock would be necessaryto. handle novel featuresof my invention will be apparentfrom the following description taken inconnection with the drawings, in which Figure'l is a plan view of a partof a main line track and a station side track used in carrying out myinvention;

Fig. 2 is an end view of a transfer car embodying my invention, theplatform and track upon which it runs being shown in section;

Fig. 3 is a side view of a transfer car to carry cutthe invention;

Fig. 3 is a detail view of a modified form of caster wheel for thetransfer car;

Fig. at is a plan View of part of the trans fer car;

Fig. 4* is a. detail view of one of the hooks carried by the transfercar;

Fi 5 illustrates a coach or other railway vehicle equipped with meansfor accelerating or retarding the transfer car; 4

Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the accelerating or retarding chainscarried by the coach shown in Fig. 5; 1

Fig. 7 is a view of part of the gearing and part of a rack by means ofwhich the successive chains on the coach are driven;

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view of the reception ear in the train,also showing the main line track and devices along it for setting inoperation the means for causused 7 ing the transfer car to be pushed ofithe reception car or pulledonto the same;

Fig. 9 is a side view of the reception car and part of the track lookingat Fig. 8 from the left with the left side of the car partly broken out;

Fig. 10 illustrates the brake for control ling the operation of thegearing of the mechanism shown in Figs. 8 and 9, with the means foractuating it;

Fig. 11 is a sectional View of an endless oonveyer or treadmill forcarrying the transfer cars.

In carrying out the invention I provide a platform 15 at each stationand thereon mount a short section of track 16 parallel to and at aslight distance from the main line track 17. In double trackconstruction the platform 15 is located between the main line tracks anda passage leads under or over the main line track from the station tothe platform where the passengers get on and off of the transfer car. V

The transfer car T may be of any suitable construction and in thedrawing I have shown it diagrammatically as consisting of a platform orfloor 18 suitably mounted on wheels 19 running in grooved rails 20 onthe upper side of the platform 15. The wheels 19 may be caster wheelsmounted so as to turn and move the car in any direction. It is necessaryto provide guides for the car T while it is on the platform 15. Theguiding means consists of arms 21 rigidly connected to the under side ofthe platform opposite sides against the channel members. i

The passengers, freight and baggage are loaded on the transfer car Twhile the latter is standing stationary at a point about midway betweenthe ends of the short section of track 16. In order to safely transferthe car T to the moving train it is necessary to bring the transfer carT up to a speed nearly equal to that of the moving train and then bymeans of suitable mechanism to be described, the transfer car is pulledaboard the moving train. Each train is equipped with one or morereception cars It, the details of, which will be described hereinafter.In the train ahead o f and following each reception car are a nun'iberof coaches C, one of which is diagrammatically shown in Figs. 1 and Onthe under side of each of the coaches G are a plurality of endlesschains such as. the one shown in Fig. 6. The chains 25 project beyondthe sides of the coaches C and the teeth 26 on the upper run thereof areadapted to engage the teeth of a rack 27 on the outer end of a bar orsupport 28 which is fastened to one end of the transfer car T. Since thetransfer car T is stationary it will be neces sary, in order to avoidshocks and injury to the passengers and freight thereon to start it at aslow speed and gradually accelerate it until its speed is nearly equalto that of the train. This is accomplished by driving the chains so thattheir upper sides which engage the rack 27 will travel in a reversedirection to that of the train. The first chain to engage the rack 27will travel in a direction reverse to that of the train and at a speedslightly less than that of the train, while the speeds of the succeedingchalns will be slower and the chain engaging the rack 27 just before thecar T is to be transferred to the reception car R will be geared so asto travel very slowly in a reverse direction so that the transfer car Twill move at about the same speed as the train when it is pulled aboardthe reception car.

hen a transfer car loaded with passengers and freight is pushed off thereception car the chains 251, similar to the chains 25,

on the coaches following the reception car will travel in a directionand at speeds adapt ed to gradually retard the transfer car. In order todo this the upper side of the chain 251neXt following the reception carwill travel in a reverse direction to that of the moving train but ataslow speed while the succeeding chains will gradually increase in speeduntil the last chain, the upper side of which will travel in a reversedirection to that of the train and at substantially the same speed asthe train.

In Fig. 7, I have diagrammatically shown the way in which the chains onthe under side of the coaches may be driven. A shaft 29 consisting ofseveral sections extends longitudinally beneath the coach and carries aplurality of bevel gears 30, each of which meshes with a bevel gear 31carried on the end of a short shaft 32. The short shafts 32 are eachprovided with a gear or sprocket 33 which meshes with the teeth on thelower run of the chain 25 to drive the latter. In order to obtain thedifferent speeds for the successive chains 25, the gears 31 aresuccessively of different diameters. A rack bar 34: secured along thetrack is adapted to engage a gear 35 connected to rotate the gear 36.-'The gear 36 meshes with a gear 37 on the line shaft 29 and thereforewhen the gear 35 reaches the rack bar 34 located atthe railroad station,the shaft 29 under the coach will be rotated and the chains set inmotion to accelerate or retard the transfer car T.

At each end of the'track section 16 and about an inch higher than thesame there is an endless transversely extending conveying device ortreadmill D which is normally at rest and upon which the transfer carsare moved when they are to be pushed off or pulled aboard the receptioncarj One of these devices is illustrated in detail in Fig. 11 andconsists of an endless flexible belt of suitable material running overrollers r and as shown, the ends of the conveying member D are guidedupwardly on an incline. These inclinedends keep the transfer car fromaccidentally running off of the conveying device. The flexible floor ofD is laid upon parallel longitudinal rods about thirty feet long fittedat either end into a metal beam, the ends of which turn up. By providingthe car T with wheels similar to the one shown in Fig. 3 it will bepossible to dispense with the treadmills D since the large ball 193 isfitted in a casing 194 secured to the lower side of the frame andprovided with ball bearings 195, and it may move in any direction. Whenthe transfer car to be transferred to a moving train reaches thisconveying device D it is ready to be pulled aboard the moving train andthis is accomplished by means of a pair of lazy tongs devices 38 guidedin grooved rails 39 on opposite end walls of the reception car. The rearends of the tongs run on rollers and are fastened securely to the sidewall of the reception car to resist the strain when the. transfer car ispulled aboard the train. A pin projects out horizontally at each of thepivotal points formed by the diamond shaped figures of the tongs 38, androllers 380 are mounted on these projecting pins, the rollers beingadapted to be guided in slots 39. These rollers increase in size fromthe rear to the front and at the limit of their forward movementdownwardly and forwardly inclined slots 381 are formed in the guideways39 so as to receive the rollers 380 and enable the tongs 38 to let theear T move down onto the horizontal floor of the treadmill D. Thisarrangement also provides a stop for the outward movement of the mem--bers 38. The lazy tongs device 38 has two end levers 40 which are curvedand overlap at their outer ends to form a ring when the lazy tongsdevice is extended. The rings ti on the pair of lazy tongs devices 38are arranged to engage hooks 42 and 43 carried by brackets bolted to theouter side of the transfer car T. The hooks 42 and 43 are mounted atdifferent heights on and at different distances from the side of the carT "and the lazy tongs devices 38 extend out of the side of the receptioncar different distances so that they will interlock with the properhooks on the transfer car. The hooks are each provided with springlatches 421 to keep the rings 41 in place thereon, and the shanks ofthese hooks fit in casings on the car T and bear against springs in saidcasings which will take up the shock. The hooks 42 and 43 are reversedin direction in the transfer car which is to be pushed from thereception car onto the transfer track 16. The floor of the reception carconsists of an endless traveling conveying device 44 which extendsoutside of the reception car and its upper run travels inwardly when acar is to be transferred to it whereas the upper run travels outwardlywhen a car is to be transferred fromit. The outer end of the conveyingdevice 44 is arranged to pass close to the conveying devices D on thetrack 16 and when the'transfer car is rolled to or from the devices Dfrom orto the reception car the transfer car wheels 19 bridge the spacebetween the conveyer devices'D and conveying member 44 and roll thetransfer car across the space between them. When the car T is dischargedfrom the reception car,

the lazy tongs push the car T sidewise into position to be guided by thegroove 23.

The mechanism for operating the lazy tongs devices 38 consists of a gearwheel 45 vwhich is carried by a shaft 451 mounted in suitable bearingson the lower side of the.

floor of thereceptiOncar R and which is adapted to mesh with the rackbar 46 lo cated at the proper point along the'main linetrack. The shaft451 also carries a pinion 452 which rotates with the gear 45. The pinion452 meshes with a gear 47 to rotate the latter, and connected to theinner nd of the shaft which carries the gear' 47 there is a crank andbrake wheel 48 to which one end of a connecting rod 49 is attached.

The upper end of the connecting rod 49 is secured to a bar 50 and theends of the bar 50 are suitably connected to the lower ends of a pair oflazy tongs 51 and 52. The levers 511 and 52 are pivoted together at 53and are also connected at their ends to the up per and lower end levers54 and 55' of the pair of lazytongs devices 38. The lazy tongs devicesare therefore extended when the rod 49 is raised and are drawn inwardlyand the ring 41 is opened when the rod 49 outer surface of the wheel 55fixed on the shaft 451 to which the gear 45 and pinion 452 areconnected? The brake band '551 is secured at 56 to the floor of thereception car and its other end is secured to the arm 57 of a double armlever pivoted at 58 on the under side of the car. The other arm to thebottom of the car. and tends to pull r the arm 59' of the doublearmlever outwardly to normally release the brake band 551. At the'properpoint along the track there is located. a tripping. block 61 which n isadapted to engage the lower end of the arm 59 which raises the arm 57and causes the brake band 551 to engage the wheel 55' to stop itsmovement and during the period that the brake band 551 is in thisposition the lazy tongs devices will not be operated but will remain inthe position 111.Wlll(3l1 theyare set but as soon as the brake band 551is released the wheel 45 engages the rack 46 and operates the lazy tongsto either push out the transfer car or pull it in.

The operation of my transfer system will be apparent from the foregoingdescription. After the transfer car with the passengers and freightth'ereon'has been pulled aboard the receptioircar'the passengers will goto their seats in the'coaches and the freight will be unloaded. Then thetransfer car will be ready to be loaded with passengers and freightfordischarge'at the next statdetail, I do not wish to be limited to the"exact devices herein shown and described for carrying it into practice,as it will be obvious that various other means may be employed for thatpurpose without departlng from the spirit of theinvention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:

1. In a transfer system of the class de-' scribed, the combination of atransfer car to be transferred to a moving vehicle, means carried by themoving vehicle for accelerating said transfer car to the speed of thevehicle and means on the vehicle for'trans' ferring said car to thevehicle.

2. In a transfer system of the class described, the combination of astationary transfer car to be loaded with articles or passengers tobetransferred to a moving train, means carried by the moving train foraccelerating the transfer car to the speed of the train, andmeanscarried by the train for transferring said car aboard-the trainwhen the speed of the train and car are equal. V

3. In a transfer system of the class, described, thecombinatio-n of "twseparate tracks, one for a moving vehicle, a transfer car adapted to runalong the other track, an endless conveying device travelingtransversely of said other track near the end thereof, means carried bythe moving vehicle for accelerating the transfer car to the speed of thevehicle, and means carried by the moving vehicle for engaging thetransfer car and guiding it aboard said vehicle when said transfer carreaches vice.

4. In a transfer system of the class described, the combination of amain line track, a track section extending along said main line track, atransfer car adapted to run on said track section and adapted to carrythe articles or passengers to be transferred to a moving train on themain line track, a plurality of devices carried by the train on the mainline track for gradually accelerating said transfer car to the speed ofthe train, means carried by the train adapted to engage parts on saidtransfer car when the transfer car and train travel at the same speed,and means for actuating said engaging means to cause it'to pull thetransfer car aboard the train when said transfer car the conveying deandtrain travel at the same speed. I

5. Ina transfer system of the class de scribed, the combination of amain line track, a short side track parallel to the main line track, andtwo spaced endless conveying de vices traveling transversely of saidside track, one of said devices being adapted to receive transfer carsdischarged from a train on the main line track and the other conveyingdevice being adapted to carry transfer cars to be transferred to trainstraveling on the main line track.

6. In a transfer system, the combination of a transfer car for carryingarticles or passengers to be transferred to or from a moving train, atoothed member on said trans fer car, and means on the train foraccelcrating or retarding said transfer car to transfer it to or fromthe train, said accelerating or retarding means comprising a series oftraveling elements adapted to engage the toothed member on said transfercar, the successive traveling elements in said series moving atdifferent speeds, for the purpose set forth.

7. In a transfer'system, the combination of a transfer car for carryingarticles or passengers to be transferred to or from a moving train, atoothed member on said transfer car, and means on the train foraccelerating or retarding said transfer car to transfer it to or fromthe train, said accels crating or retarding means comprising a se riesof endless traveling chains having teeth adapted to engage the toothedmember on salt transfer car, the successive chains of said seriesoperating .at slightly diflerent speeds in gradual progression toprovide is g'adual acceleration or retardation of the transfer car,substantially as set forth.

8. In a transfer system, the combination of a transfer car adapted to beloaded With articles and passengers to be transfered to a moving traln,a toothed member carried by said transfer car, and means foraccelerating or retarding said transfer car as it is trans ferred to orfrom the moving train, said means comprising shafting located beneathcoaches of saidtrain, gears carried by said" shafting, other gearsdriven by said gears 0n the shafting and a. series of endless toothedchains beneath coaches of said train, said chains being connected to bedrivenat progressively different speeds by said other gears, said chainssuccessivelyengaging the toothed member on said transfer car andgradually accelerating ,or retarding it, sub; stantially as described.

9. In a transfer 3 system, the combination of a transfer car adapted tocarry artlcles or passengers to be transferred to or from a vehicle,means engageable by apart on the vehicle for moving said transfer carand for accelerating or retarding said movement, and means on thevehicle for transferring said car to or from the vehicle, saidtransferring. means comprising a device adapted to engage a part on saidtransfer car, gearing for operating said device and means for.

causing the operation of said gearing.

10. In a transfer system, the combinatlon of a transfer car adapted tocarry articles or passengers to be transferredto or from a.

vehicle and means on the vehicle for transferring said car to or fromthe vehicle, said transferring means comprising a lazy tongs device,gearing for operating said lazy tongs device, and a rack for causing theoperation of said gearing.

11. In a transfer system, the combination of a transfer car adapted tocarry articles or passengers to be transferred to or from a vehicle andmeans on the vehicle for transferring said car to or from the vehicle,said transferring means comprising a pair of lazy tongs, means forguiding the lazy tongs, gearing for operating the lazy tongs, a rack foroperating the gearing, a brake for limiting the action of the gearing, atrip for operating said brake, and a spring for re-- 1 111, meanseomgzn'zishag;-

wheels supporting said body for movement in any direction, a toothedmember mounted 011 said body and engageable by a part on a movingvehlcle, whereby said car is accelerated or retarded, and hooks carriedby said body and adapted to be engaged by transferring means on a movingvehicle.

1 1. In a transfer system of the class described, a reception car forcarrying transf fer cars, said reception car comprising a floorconsisting of a transversely traveling endless conveying device,extensible means on said reception car for pulling atransfer car aboardthe reception car and for push- 7 ing a transfer car off of thereception car, means for operating said extenslble means and means forcontrolling the amount of operation of said operating means.

15. In a railway system, the combination of a main line track, a shortsection of track extending along said main line track at a station ofsaid main line, a car adapted to run on said short track section, and atrain on the main line carrying means to engage sald car for movementand to accelerate or retard said movement.

16. In a railway system, the combination of a main line track, a shortsection of track extending along said main line track at a station ofsaid main line, a car adapted to run on said short track section, atrain on the main line carrying means to engage said car for movementand to accelerate or retard said movement, and means on said train toengage and pull the car aboard the train or discharge it from the train.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature.

WILLIAM P. LAMAR.

Copies of this patentmay be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

